Automatic air-valve



(No Model.)

0. E. VAN AUKEN.

AUTOMATIC AIR VALVE.

No. 574,962. Patented Jan..12, 1897.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CLARENCE E. VAN AUKEN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

AUTOMATIC Al R-VALVE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 574,962, dated January12, 1897.

Application filed March 23, 1896. Serial No. 584,399. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CLARENCE E. VAN AUKEN, residing at Chicago, in thecounty of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Automatic Air-Valves, of which I do declare thefollowing to be a full and complete description, when taken inconnection with the drawings accompanying and forming a part hereof,sufficient to enable those skilled in the art to which it pertains tounderstand, make, and use the same.

The object of this invention is to obtain an automatic air-valve (thatis, an air-valve attachable to steam radiators,by means of which aircontained in the radiator will be automatically delivered therefrom,while steam and Water contained in the radiator will not be I dischargedthroughsuch valve) wherein the of the open end of a bent compoundmetallic expansible member.

I have illustrated my invention by the drawings accompanying and forminga part hereof, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of avalve embodying the invention; Fig. 2, a vertical sectional view, on anenlarged scale, of the upper end of the float forming an elementtherein, of the valve secured in such upper end of the float, and of theends of the compound metallic expansible member adjacent to the valveand upper end of the float; Fig. 3, an elevation of a modification ofthe valve, the float, and the expansible member, and of the connectionto the expansible member of the float and valve.

In the drawings a reference-letter employed to designate a given part isused to indicate such part throughout the several figures of thedrawings wherever the same appears.

In air-valves having a shell, an inlet and an outlet, and awater-outlet, with a float and a valve arranged to control the outletand wherein the float is supported by an expansible member, when suchexpansible member consists of a stick or post of composition materialwhereof rubber is the principal element the composition becomes softenedby heat and steam and the effectiveness of the apparatus is therebyimpaired.

Further, the continuous expansion and contraction of the expansiblemember, when composed of such composition material, causes it soon tobecome inert and non-effective.

In this air-valve, A is the shell or case, a the top of shell A, and Bthe bottom thereof.

b are the screw-threads on projection C of base B, such screw-threadsfitting into corresponding screw-threads in the radiator.

D is a passage-way through projection C, andE a bent tube extendingthrough passageway D from the inside of shell or case A to and into theradiator to which the valve is attached.

F is the outlet of the air-valve.

G is a valve arranged to close the outlet F when forced onto its seat.

H is a float resting on the expansible memher I when no water iscontained in the shell A.

J is an inverted cone on the under side of stem h of float H.

The valve G may be integral with cone J, as illustrated in Fig. 2, andshould be integral therewith when the float II is omitted from theconstruction, as when an air-valve arranged to permit the escape ofwater, as well as air, from the shell A is desired.

The expansible member I is constructed of the strips of metal K L,firmly secured together, having different degrees of expansibility, bentat H, so that the two ends N 0 will come on opposite sides of cone J,Figs. 1 and 2. Strip K in the constructionillustrated in Fig. 1 may wellconsist of iron, and strip L in such compositionmay well be composed ofbrass. \Vhen steam is admitted to the air-valve and the compoundexpansible memberI subjected to the heat thereof, the strip L of brasswill be thereby expanded more than will the strip K of iron, andhencethe two ends N O of the expansible member will be forced together ontothe face P P of cone J, thus forcing the valve G upward and onto itsseat f at the base of the opening F, and

the valve of the outlet thereby closed.

In the modification illustrated in Fig. 3 the outer strip of metal iscomposed of iron, and hence is lettered K, and the inner strip of metalof brass, lettered L, such strips being secured firmly together asbefore. Vhen this compound strip is heated, as by the presence of steam(or even hot Water) in the shell A, the ends l and O are forced apart.Hence to force the valve Gr forward I insert such ends in the invertedcone J.

Cone J may be punched or forced up of sheet metal, if desired, and sohollow, as in dicated by the dotted lines R E, Fig. 2.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecn re by Letters Patent, is-

1. In an automatic air-valve having an inlet a-nd an outlet, a valve tothe outlet, a cone to which the valve is secured, and a compoundmetallic expansible member the ends whereof are by variations oftemperature,

forced to and away from each other and against the surface of the cone,and the valve thereby closed upon the subject-ion of the expansiblemember to heat; substantially as described.

2. In an automatic air-valve having an inlet, and an outlet, a float, avalve mounted on the float, the float and "alve being longitudinallymovable, a cone secured to the float and valve, and a compound metallicexpansible member, both ends whereof are in contact with the cone;substantially as described.

CLARENCE E. VAN AUKEN.

In presence of CHARLES TURNER BROWN, FLORA L. BROWN.

